One of a million
by InvertedHasu
Summary: Not all talons are there by choice. So what happens when one doubts her place among the cyclonians, I suck a summarys. better then summary suggests!
1. Prolouge

One of a Million

By:Ajii

Disclaimer: I Don't own anything except my plot, don't rub it in.

A/N: Ok so I know I should be updating Flights and Frights, but I got a little stuck. And this idea has been on my mind for the past couple of days. Enjoy!

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The group of talons were training in a field, you had to work hard to take over the world. About 50 talons were lined up in ten rows of five, each one going through the motions that the captain shouted out from the front of the group, his eye scanning each one.

"Combination three," he barked at the group. They immediately snapped into the motions calling out as they went. "Lunge, parry, overhead swing, block!"

The groups ages ranged from teens as young as thirteen to men and women in their late thirties. Aside from their approximate ages there wasn't much to tell one apart from another.

They all had the same uniforms, the same helmets and goggles, and the same energy staffs. The only difference was a small number printed on the front of their uniforms, not that it mattered much to the small figure watching them through binoculars from a tree, standing a reasonable distance away.

She couldn't help wondering. Who were these people? What were there thoughts and feelings? What did they do in their time off? But most importantly, why did they join the cyclonians? Hundreds of questions swirled through her mind. She was determined to find some answers.

Shaking off her thoughts, she returned to taking notes of the talons. There was something going on. Apparently, one of the talons, about fourteen years old, overstepped his (or her) lunge, falling into the talon in front of him. That talon in turn lost his footing knocking over another one.

This started a domino effect until half of them were sprawled in the dust. All of them glaring at the one who started it all.

"Who caused this?" roared the captain. All the talons immediately pointed at the younger one. The captain stomped over to him and hauled the young talon up by his collar.

"The rest of you can finish up your training for the day with a five mile run," he yelled"

" As for you," here he peered at the talons number, " 1331, you can run the course. In under ten minutes, of course."

He dragged the unfortunate recruit to the start of a horridly awful looking obstacle course. The person watching the talons winced, she felt sore just looking at the thing.

The captain pulled out a stop watch, and shouted, "GO!"

The talon ran onto the muddy obstacle course sprinting as fast as he could.

About halfway through the course the young talon slipped in the mud right in front of a tangle of barbed wire that he was about to climb under. The wire caught the luckless talon on his cheek, leaving a deep gash.

Stunned, he sat on the muddy ground, and slowly reached up to the deep gash on his cheek. The furious captain stormed over to the talon and insisted that he start the course all over again.

This time he completed it without incident, then came to stand in front of the captain. "Now recruit, go join the rest of your group on the five mile run, then report for clean up duty in the mess hall."

The young talon managed to snap of a sharp salute before tiredly setting off on the long run, knowing all that waited for him at the end of it was clean up duty.

The watcher waited for the captain to leave before slowly climbing down from the tree. Looking up at the setting sun, she realized she had stayed longer then she meant to. The guys would be worried, and probably bombard her with never ending questions about where she had been.

Mounting her heliscooter Piper flew off toward the condor. Unaware of the weary young talon watching her while he stumbled through his run. The gash on his face stinging from the sweat.

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A/N: So did you like it, hate it, what? Next chapter up in a few days. Review!

Ok, about the title, I don't know if there really are a million talons or not, but this is my fic so I say there is.

Hint: Remember the young talon with the gash on her face.

See ya

-Ajii


	2. Zura

One of a Million

By: Ajii

Chapter 1: Zura

Disclaimer: I own Storm Hawks click No not really I don't own them just put… the… gun…down! I promise they're not mine. runs away AHHHH!

A/N: Here's the next chapter, I got it up before school started! YAY!

Since school is starting, I won't have as much time to write (homework and all that) so I am going to update weekly sound good? Thanks to Nakedmolerat05, My _ONLY_ review so far, it means a lot. Oh and italics means the characters thoughts, or a flashback. Enjoy! -Ajii

Piper pulled her heliscooter into the main hanger, so far so good, now if she could just make it to her room. " Piper, where have you been," _Shoot. _

Slowly, she turned toward the red haired sky knight. _Come on Piper think, think_, she chided herself. "Just out looking for crystals, and… stuff."

_Please believe it, please believe it!_

Aerrow relaxed a little " Well, stay close to the ship, there's a cyclonian base near here on Terra Vyia, I don't want you to get captured." Then he turned and walked toward his room.

Piper let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding _Note to self: plan alibi BEFORE leaving next time. _She padded down the hall toward her room.

She checked the hall one last time before ducking into her room. Kneeling down she pulled a shoebox from under her bed. Quietly she opened the lid, and pulled out a sheaf of papers.

Piper spread them out and scanned over them. There were lists of Terra's under Master Cyclonis's rule, and the leader's of the talons on the one's that she knew (like Ravess and Snipe.) Others held sketched and diagrams of the talon's uniforms, weapons, skimmers, and more. Then on just a few papers were notes of what she gleaned from watching them on rare occasions like tonight, where she could sneak away.

She just wanted to know their enemy's motives, why join Master Cyclonis? For power, money, because they were just plain evil? Another reason was, she was curious what they were like, when did they start training, what did they do in the small amount of free time they were allowed?

It was just so easy to see them as a group one the same as the other, instead of individual human beings. She was intrigued, she just didn't want the guys to know about it. It would give them license to mock her for the rest of her life!

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The young talon stumbled into the tiny room where she slept. She was covered in mud from the obstacle course, and a few smudges of food from cleaning the mess hall.

Suddenly, there was a knock on her door, another talon was there. " You are to see the commander," he said casting a disapproving eye over her dirty uniform, " you might want to clean up first though." Then he promptly turned on his heel and left.

The young talon sighed, knowing that it would be about what happened during drills earlier. Quickly, she changed into a clean uniform, and splashed some water on her face. _At least I don't have to wear my helmet or goggles._ Then she trudged down the hall toward the commander's office.

The commander of Terra Vyia (1) was sitting at his desk when he heard the knock at his door. "Enter," he said, not looking up from his papers at the young talon shuffled nervously into the office.

" Well, Zura, it seems you managed to get into trouble once again. What do you have to say for yourself?

_Hmm, maybe that this is only the second time I have gotten into trouble in almost 5 years._ "No excuse sir I allowed myself to become distracter, and lost my balance."

" Then see to it that it doesn't happen again," he said finally looking up from his papers. Instantly he did a double take. "Good gosh girl, what happened to your face?"

Zura's hand flew to the long gash on her left cheek, she almost forgotten all about it in her haste. " I… uh, slipped in the mud on the obstacle course, and cut it on the barbed wire"

" Zura, go get it cleaned up immediately," he said leaning forward to get a better look. " It looks like you might need a few stitched."

Standing up he shooed her toward the first aid center. "Fine, I'm going." She turned and stormed down the hall annoyed by his reaction.

The commander watched her as she went, slowly shaking his head. Yes sir, his fourteen year old daughter could be a handful.

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Zura made her way back to her tiny room, it wasn't very big. All that was in it was her cot, a dresser with a picture on it, and a few personal belongings.

Her dad had been right, as usual, the gash had needed about four stitched. She sat on her cot and picked up the picture. It was from when she had lived on Terra Atmosia with her mom. Before her mom disappeared, before her dad brought her here, and made her become a cyclonian.

**FLASHBACK**

_Zura bounced along, holding her mom's hand. They were going to the park today. When they arrived Zura noticed some other kids her age playing some kind of ball game. She briefly considered joining them, but decided to go on the Merry-go-round instead. "Mommy, can you spin me?" she asked climbing up onto it._

_Her mom walked over and started spinning her around and around on the piece of equipment. Zura giggled as it spun faster and faster. After a while it slowed down enough for her to hop off._

_Still laughing she tried to walk in a straight line, without much success before collapsing on the ground. She watched as her mom's feet approached. "Zura, look what I got," she said pulling out a small container._

_Zura peered closely at it before shrieking excitedly, "BUBBLES!" Unscrewing the lid she blew a couple before chasing after them before they floated to high._

_When she was finished her mom unpacked their picnic lunch, and they settled down to enjoy their meal._

**END FLASHBACK**

Zura smiled as she looked at the picture, It show her mom laughing, with her golden blond hair fell around her shoulders. While a nine year old version of her self chased after the bubbles.

She would always remember that day, because it was the last time they went to the park. Two weeks later her mom had just disappeared. When she didn't turn up her dad had come and took her to Terra Vyia. He started her training, so that she could become a cyclonian when she turned eleven. Whether she wanted to or not.

She didn't want to be a cyclonian though, her mom had taught her right from wrong. She couldn't tell her dad that of course, so for now she was just waiting for the opportune time to desert, and escape. She figured that she could hide out on her old home terra. It was well defended against the cyclonians. She would need some regular clothes though.

With these thoughts on her mind, Zura drifted off to sleep.

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But not for long. 'WEEWOOO, WEEWOOOO, WEEWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!'

Zura awoke with a start to the alarm siren blaring. Still half asleep she stumbled to her door, and looked out into the hallway. It was chaos, talons running everywhere, some pulling on their boots and helmets as they went. "What's going on!" she shouted to be heard over the siren.

One of the talons turned to her and answered, " A sky knights ship has been spotted. The Dark Ace has ordered units B,F, and H. (2) to go out on their skimmers to assist him.

Closing her door she quickly pulled on her helmet and boots, before running to her skimmer, grabbing her energy staff on the way.

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Back on the Condor the Storm Hawks were all doing their own thing. Piper was tinkering in her lab, Finn and Junko were planning their next prank, Stork was flying the ship, and Aerrow was working on his skimmer.

Suddenly, Storks voice came over the intercom, "Uh… guys, there's about sixty talons flying towards us, led by the Dark Ace himself.

Aerrow ran to the bridge, " What are our chances of outrunning them?" he asked. " There to close, we'll have to fight. We are sooooo doomed!" The pilot replied.

Aerrow gave out his orders, "Finn get on the cannon. Piper, Junko, come with me. Stork, just do what you do best."

The squadron ran to their assigned places and prepared to defend themselves from the cyclonians.

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1: the commander of terra vyia, is the leader of the talons there (Like ravess for terra bluster)

2: Units are how the talons are split up into groups, each unit has 20 talons ( Zura's unit is unit H)

A/N: So there you go, the first chapter. Please review, I know your reading because I got about 40 hits. Thanks again Nakedmolerat05 here's your cookie (hands cookie over) the rest of you, PLEASE REVIEW. I don't care if it's good, bad, or a flamer. Thx

-Ajii


	3. A Debt is Made

One of a Million

By: Ajii

Chapter 2, A debt is made

A/N: Ok so I'm updating early for all you lucky peoples! Thanks to Nakedmolerat05 and cloudhawk for your wonderful reviews! Cookies for you both! Oh yeah I have a few Point of views later on, I did that so you could see what the characters thoughts were for that part. Enjoy!-Ajii.

Disclaimer: Don't own Storm Hawks yada, yada, yada you know the drill.

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Zura flew out towards the sky knight squadron. There were three flying out towards them, two on skimmers, one on a heliscooter.

There was at least one driving the ship, and mabey one more working one of the cannons.

She was nervous, this was her first battle. She didn't want to let her dad down… again.

A red head, he seemed to be the leader, immediately jumped from his skimmer, landing on the Dark Ace's. Before she could see more a wallop flew by lashing out at her skimmer with his knucklebusters. She just barely managed to dodge them. She would have to watch out for that one.

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Piper was fighting off a talon, there were so many, she didn't know how they were going to pull this off.

Aerrow had locked blades with the Dark Ace, and Junko had launched himself at the nearest group of talons.

Quickly she reached behind her and pulled out her energy staff ( it's different from the talon's staffs.) Carefully aiming it at the nearest skimmer's engine.

A bolt of purple energy shot out of it hitting the engine dead on. She watched as the talon fell from the sky, deploying his parachute about halfway down.

Hearing an evil cackle, Piper looked around. What she saw was two talons coming in on either side, to ram her between them. She waited another second before letting her scooter drop a few feet.

Her plan had worked perfectly, the two talons collided with each other, knocking both of them off their skimmers.

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Zura ducked as a light blue ball of energy spun towards her, almost knocking her off her skimmer. Just ahead there was that sky knight with the red hair, he had a wild smile on his face, like he actually enjoyed this.

Then this rabbit-ferret…thing jumped up from it's side car, and started throwing, of all things, berries at her. One of them hit her helmet, another her arm, before she let her skimmer dive about fifteen feet.

_What is that thing and why is it throwing berries at us?_ Dodging a few blasts from the ships cannons she came across the ferret thing again, FLYING THE SKIMMER! She jumped in her seat as the thing growled at her.

Zura searched the air around her for the young sky knight. It took a couple of minutes, but she finally spotted him thrusting one of his blades into one of the other talons skimmer.

He reapeted this move, gliding when the gaps between skimmers were to big. _Note to self: watch out so that he doesn't do that to you._

Okay, it the sky knight was there, and the ferret thing was here, and the wallop was way over on the other side of the battle. Then where was the girl on the heliscooter.

"AHHH!" Zura turned sharply in her seat as she heared a cry ring out from behind her. The blue haired girl from the sky knights squadron had hit one of the talons engine, and he was now floating to the terra below.

Zura didn't have much time to think about it because the girl was now coning straight towards her!

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**Quick A/N:** Okay so this is Piper's, and then Zura's point of view for the next part. This is mostly so you can see both of there thoughts.

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**Piper's P.O.V**

This battle was still raging on, of about sixty talons forty of them were still in the air. The rest were on the ground below, scavenging what they could from their wrecked skimmers.

Aerrow and Junko were holding their own, but one of the talon's was hovering over by Radarr. I quickly started making my way over to him, hitting a talon when he got in my way.

The other talon must of heard when he fell, because she turned toward me. Turning tail, the talon fled, and I chased after her.

After a few heartstopping minutes, the talon turned to face me. Switching her energy staff to a ready position. _Okay then if it's a fight you want, then it's a fight you'll get!_

I quickly made a few strokes at her, which she clumsily blocked. It was kind of obvious that she was uncomfortable with the staff. It was like she was used to using a different weapon.

My thoughts were immediately brought back to the present when my own staff was jerked from my hands.

As I watched it spiral toward the ground I felt the cold touch of her staff at my throght. _Dang it Piper, how could you be so stupid!_

Slowly, I raised my eyes to meet the talon's. I couldn't see her eyes because of the goggles. It was only then that I noticed the stiched up gash on her cheek. My eyes widened a little.

This was the young talon that had messed up during their training when I was spying, I uh mean watching them a few days ago.

That's when the strangest thing happened, something flickered across her face. The talon looked around to make sure no one was watching, then thrust her staff into my hands! Letting her skimmer fall a few feet, she wobbled in her seat a little.

With one last look up at me she mouthed "Good luck," and a small smile crossed her face before flying off.

I looked at the talon's staff in my hands for a few seconds. Then the sounds of the battle around me galvanized me back into action.

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**Zura's P.O.V.**

Okay, I admit it, when I saw that girl coming at me I panicked. When I panic I usually do the first thing to come to mind…run. After a few minutes of her chasing me, I turned to face her.

I clumsily blocked her first few strokes. _Ugh, I hate using this staff._ Then the girl lost her concentration, that's when hours of training kicked in.

With one swift move I knocked her energy staff from her hands, and while she watched it fall I brought up my own staff to her neck.

Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet mine. They weren't full of fear, but determination, she really belived in what she was fighting for. Which is more then what I did.

I was torn, if I let her go then I would let my dad down, and chances are I would be killed. I couldn't kill her though because then I would let my mom down, and she never made me join an army for an evil dictator.

A plan formed in my mind, it was risky, and I would have to be quick. With one last glance around I shoved my staff into her hands, and let my skimmer drop. Pretending to be off balance.

Now to anyone else it would look like she had grabbed my staff, then knocked me off balance.

On impulse I looked back up to her and mouthed "Good Luck!"

As I flew off I thought about how I would explain to my dad what had happened to my staff. Oh well, what's more important is that i didn't let my mom down.

_Thunk_. Something had landed on one of my wings. Startled I looked over just in time to see the sky knight jumping off. Next thing I know I'm floating through the air hanging from my parachute.

This was just not my day, now I would have to explain what happened to my skimmer too! Little did I know it was about to get a whole lot worse.

I was about ten feet above tree level when I saw the ferret thing again. There was a talon shooting energy blasts at it, while it tried it's best to dodge them. Unfortunately, one of the blasts the ferret thing dodged hit my parachute.

The terra rushed up toward me, and I heard the branchs of the trees breaking as I crashed through them. Then… nothing.

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A/N: So there you go, if you liked it, or even if you didn't push the pretty blue button below. Also, I am having my first vote. Zura is used to a different weapon than her staff, as I explained earlier. What do you think that weapon should be? I need your help peoples!

- Ajii


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